Woo Hoo 32 Weeks after Uncomfortable 24 Hours

We would like to inform you that Dr. Shivani has reviewed the reports & found everything fine except "Single circum nuchal loop of cord seen".

OK - Not quite the slide in to 32 weeks that I had envisaged i.e. - no email from India for 24 hours + 2 emails from me + rising anxiety and imagination overload + trying to keep it real + snipets of info to say scan was indeed done when scheduled - but reports couldn't be printed - technical hitch - so nothing sent - then another snipet to confirn that despite this the scan was good - then not long after that - the full report and scan emailled through at about 5pm last night. Phhheeeeeeewww!!!  That's all I needed to hear! Followed by apologetic emails from India and a small change in future policies.

I know how easy it is to say things like "you must be calm, it is just a paperwork delay, these things happen" but the thing is - I didn't know that! I didn't know anything! I had unimaginable scenarios going on in my head because my telepathic powers were switched off and I couldn't actually see what was going on in Delhi - after ten years of bad scenarios it's difficult to think happy thoughts at a time like that.  Having said all that - it was just an unfortunate alignment of the moons - I wouldn't swap anyone in the team for anyone else!! I have the utmost respect and faith in everyone - sometimes things just happen and a lot of the time they happen to me ha ha.

So like I said - not the smoothest, most graceful of transitions in to Week 32 but I am super happy to be out the other side. We have a healthy sounding baby - who I see is trying to wrap a cord around its neck (which I'm not even going to stress about because I am sure that will be fine ......) and I can continue on with Operation: "Departing Australia" and it's associated challenges. 

Visa's are interesting - The Visa people from visainfo.inau@vfshelpline.com have said "We wish to inform you that you are required to apply for Indian Tourist visa" when asked what visa's my husband (the genetic father) and I need. However every other piece of evidence seems to say "Medical Visa" for him so will have to go with that one I think.....

Nerve Endings

Our 32 week scan was scheduled yesterday - but despite hitting the send/receive button twenty thousand times on my computer from 8pm to 4am - it just didn't turn up. So now I'm staying calm and re-assuring myself that this is NOT a bad sign - and the scan simply got bumped to today! I have sent a two-sentence email to Lalit and I'm sure everything will be okaaaaaay!!! .....

Picking up the Pace

As the weeks slip by - and we approach our 32 week scan - I am starting to think I need to blog more regularly (weekly?) - as things are starting to really happen much faster now!

For starters, I have (at the suggestion of my close friend) started up a "closed" facebook page that includes all of my nearest and dearest facebook friends. As I was setting it up the other night -  it just went NUTS!!! I was trying to post my reasons for setting it up and explaining a bit of the process to them but at the same time (out of NOWHERE) everyone invited into the group seemed to be on-line AT ONCE and were posting comments left right and centre and I didn't stand a chance!!! For half an hour it almost melted the wiring on my laptop and by the time I posted that I "needed to go lie down" my heart was pumping at a rate of knots and I couldn't sleep for hours!! How much love can one girl handle? I repeat - I love my little community - they are just awesome!

Secondly - it was decided the other night - at another close friends 'spontaneous birthday drinks' - that despite objections - there should be a Baby Shower!! Hey WHAT?? No! Seriously - aren't they for the Y-gens??? Or at least the much younger X-gens??? No - apparently they're not. Apparently it's also perfectly normal for a 43, soon to be 44 year old first time mum to have a Baby Shower - and basically its happening with or without me so its my choice to turn up or not.

Baby Shower happening 1st of July.

Might be handy - I still haven't bought a single item. Or even thought about a nursery. To it's name this poor baby still just has a highchair, a half knitted cardigan (from Nana) and now a "Love and Lullabies" wooden word.

Thirdly - and Finally - I THINK I am on the BRINK of buying my first ever iPad! Yes - I know - I may be the last known person to do this in the Western World - but sometimes you can't rush these things!! And no - I don't own an iPhone either. Or an iAnything else. But what has changed my mind now .......... is that this laptop I'm typing to you on - seems to weigh a tonne. And kg's = excess baggage = Many $$ so maybe the time has come the walrus said to consider joining the 21st century?

So - it seems I need to buy an iPad2 because the iPad3 won't work out here in the sticks (so for the Aussies amongst us this means it needs to be NextG compatable) - I'm also looking at getting a 32gig one - and a separate "card reader" so that I can load photos straight from my camera (SD card) onto the iPad. My MAIN concern now is the same BIG problem that anyone with an iAnything seems to complain about when they go overseas - in that their iAnything drains all of their money out of the universe by continuously trying to search for their normal local network back home - i.e. Telstra back here in Australia.

Help! (again) Can this be easily remedied? Do I just need to buy a pre-paid SIM card in India for my iPad? And how easy IS that? And will it get chewed up in no time or does a reasonable amount of money last a reasonable amount of time? What is everyone else going to do (or have done) to communicate from New Delhi?? Once again I am open to every single piece of advice and thank you immensely in advance for any!! XX   

Winter Wonderland

To Sum Up: It's cold - We've cleared the 28th hurdle - We've booked our flights - and - We've 'told the town'!!!!

To Expand: We were holding out for our 28 week scan on May 28th but due to the conference in Melbourne I think a lot of scans were brought forward (no arguments here) so we were pleasantly surprised to find the "doing fine & her pregnancy is growing well" email waiting for us on Saturday 26th!! Our little bunny has heard about my previous posts and doesn't appear overly impressed. Either that or s/he is midway through a very complicated mathematical equation that may one day save planet earth and ensure world wide peace and harmony throughout the land. Who knows?   

Once we received the 'all clear' I immediately started to worry (because that's what I do best) that the GA was 26 weeks and 6 days and by my calculations we should have been closer to 29 weeks in reality. Several emails ensued but my mind has now been restored to calm and I need to leave the mathmatics to more qualified beings like 'Miffy' there.

So - with this hurdle cleared we decided it was time to start letting some cats out of the bag. It was becoming more and more intense and borderline impossible to arrange 'stuff' without letting anyone know why were arranging 'stuff'. For example - 2 years leave from work - a sudden interest in Playgroup hours......

We decided to throw a couple of impromptu dinner parties starting with Monday night (28th May). The timing of all this (of course) couldn't have been 'more complicated' if we'd tried because it was also 'Seeding Time' in our 'Farming World' . Did I mention that we were Farmers when we're not working in the Oil & Gas fields (him) or Nursing in Primary Health Care (me) - possibly not - sorry about that - we are! So we have two 'bits of land' (no don't get excited they really are just 'bits of land' we're not big aussie station owners or anything super impressive like that) - and anyway one 'bit' is 5km out the road that we use for grazing cattle, raising chooks, securing solar panels to sheds and storing the fishing boat and tractor etc. The other ' bit of land' is 100km away and used mostly for growing crops on. This is the 'bit of land' that my  poor hasband had to drive frantically to and from in-between each 'dinner party' in order to get as much crop sown as possible while all of the other moons were aligned .... trust me - it was hectic!!

So our dinner parties have happened now and our exciting news has been broken. The resulting days have been INSANE! Our 'good news story ' has blanketed the whole town and some of the district and we are just so grateful to be part of the nicest, most loving most supportive community in the whole wide damned world!! There have been enough tears to sink a ship, enough hugs to bruise a rib and enough sqeals to pierce an ear!! The love and support is absolutley everywhere and popping down the street for milk and bread now all but ends in a ticker-tape parade!! It's just too hard to put into words how everyone has been reacting and I am getting all 'thingy' now just typing about it so I might need to move on sorry ...

I'll just talk about the weather for a minute! That's a neutral subject! Well it's REALLY FREAKIN' COLD HERE AT THE MOMENT!!! I'm throwing logs on the fire as we sit here and everytime I have to go outside .... to get more logs .... I lose the sensation in my fingers!!! OK tiny bit theatrical - it's not like it snows here or anything - and in fact the scene from my front verandah looks the same as it did in my last post - but this is what the mornings look like .....

Not pretty! That's our poor ol' fig tree surrounded by frost covered pea-straw - it's always a miracle that anything survives to Spring. I'm always surprised I do!!! I'm not that good in the cold weather!!

OK back on track now... I forgot to mention earlier that we've booked our flights!!! Wooah that was a brave moment!! So unless Miffy arrives early we will be flying out of Australia on July 26th. That will equate to roughly 37 and a bit weeks - again with the maths - so lets just wait and see how that works out for us.....

Our next - and very crucial "32 week - and viable" scan is due on June 25th. My degree of anxiety is rising appropriately with each passing day and I'm randomly holding my breath whenever I think about it. Please stay with us little one.

To End Off: One more photo that represents another poignant moment in our 'longest-journey-ever'...... from a very thoughtful friend ..... our baby's first ever baby present. XX